Being Well Read

What does that even mean? 

I, for one, do not know. It's such a subjective designation. However, if I polled 100 people, I'd bet that there would be some common threads. Perhaps it is someone that reads a lot of books. Okay, but what if they're all middling quality or all in the same genre? Perhaps it is someone who has read all of the classics. What classics? Contemporary classics, historical classics? Fine, now we have to decide what makes a piece of literature worthy of being deemed a classic. Do we weigh the worth based on how well written it is, on how influential it was on literature or on the world, or something else entirely?

While I was pondering what makes a "good" tarot reader and whether I counted as a reader or not, my mind wandered to other things that I'm considered "good" at to compare. Reading easily came to mind. I've been a voracious reader since I was a child; I recall several instances as a child where I had read everything in the house and ended up reading the dictionary to pass the time. However, when I contemplated whether I would be considered "well read", I couldn't find myself able to definitively say yes. Sure, I'd read the classics in school, but I could hardly recall anything about them. I've read some influential novels and illuminating non-fiction works too, but is that enough?

So, I've decided that I want to become well read. I'm still working out what that definition looks like but I've started with some ground rules. I've looked up various lists online and did a little AI prompting to find out what books could cover a primer of the different styles, genres, eras, regions, and classics. I'm judging myself based off completion and absorption rather than speed. So, for that reason, I'll read what I normally read and add in a book or two from the list as I finish so I don't get bogged down and decide to toss the whole idea out. Once I finish the list, I'll have to figure out if any blind spots remain and fill those in. My goal is not to become an expert in literature in an any way. But, I would like to have exposure to all types of literature and subjects to broaden my understanding. Man, I sure sound like a nerd sometimes. 

As I write this, I'm not sure if I'll update this post or create new posts as I read through the list. I'm also not sure if I'll do book reviews or round ups on a monthly or quarterly basis. While I feel ambitious right now, I do see some upcoming changes on the horizon that I'll need to adjust to first before I can commit to anything more frequent that I'm currently doing. 

I'll post the list below so if anyone else has a hare-brained idea like this, they can skim from it. If there's something I'm missing out on, I'm happy to hear recommendations as well.

Books to Read (in no particular order)

  1. The Epic of Gilgamesh
  2. The Odyssey
  3. Antigone
  4. Meditations (Marcus Aurelius)
  5. The Tale of Genji
  6. Pride and Prejudice
  7. Jane Eyre
  8. Frankenstein
  9. The Count of Monte Cristo
  10. Crime and Punishment
  11. The Brothers Karamazov
  12. Middlemarch
  13. The Picture of Dorian Gray
  14. Beloved
  15. One Hundred Years of Solitude
  16. The Left Hand of Darkness
  17. The Remains of the Day
  18. The Grapes of Wrath
  19. The Bell Jar
  20. Things Fall Apart
  21. Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
  22. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
  23. Demon Copperhead
  24. Never Let Me Go
  25. Homegoing
  26. The Overstory
  27. A Gentleman in Moscow
  28. James (Percival Everett)
  29. A Wizard of Earthsea
  30. Piranesi
  31. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
  32. The Fifth Season
  33. The Last Unicorn
  34. Project Hail Mary
  35. Stories of Your Life and Others
  36. Kindred
  37. The Dispossessed
  38. The Three-Body Problem
  39. Dracula
  40. The Haunting of Hill House
  41. The Shining
  42. Our Share of Night
  43. The Only Good Indians
  44. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
  45. In the Woods
  46. The Name of the Rose
  47. The Silence of the Lambs
  48. Wolf Hall
  49. The Book Thief
  50. The Pillars of the Earth
  51. The Poisonwood Bible
  52. Educated
  53. The Glass Castle
  54. When Breath Becomes Air
  55. Born a Crime
  56. Know My Name
  57. SPQR (Mary Beard)
  58. The Warmth of Other Suns
  59. The Wager
  60. Caste
  61. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  62. Say Nothing
  63. The Selfish Gene
  64. Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
  65. Thinking, Fast and Slow
  66. Four Thousand Weeks
  67. Outlive
  68. The Body Keeps the Score
  69. Hamlet or King Lear
  70. The Importance of Being Earnest
  71. Devotions (Mary Oliver)
  72. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
  73. Langston Hughes
  74. The Carrying 

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